Kimberly Black keeps betting on East Knoxville — this time with Rosaritas
"My favorite part of Rosarita's is how you can break bread with your friends, your family, your loved ones, eat some great food, and enjoy a spirited beverage," said one of the business owners, Kimberly Black.
Kimberly Black didn’t need a market study to know East Knoxville was ready for a family-friendly, sit-down Mexican restaurant.
She lives there. She works there. And she’s been investing in the community since she arrived in Tennessee in 2019.
Her latest concept, Rosarita’s Mexican Cantina, opened quietly last month at 2816 East Magnolia Ave. In fact, Black said they didn’t even mean to open as early as they did. Community members kept stopping by to see the new spot on the block, and eventually Rosaritas just decided to open its doors.
“One month later, and we have loyal customers now. We’re really excited by the love we’ve received from the community,” she said.
The restaurant finally had an opening ceremony at 10 a.m. on April 14 to welcome the broader community to the concept. Rosarita’s offers fresh Mexican food, chips and salsas, margaritas, and “cold cold beer,” Black shared. She said East Knoxville, near Magnolia Avenue, has been missing an atmosphere like this for a long time.
“East Knoxville needed a fresh concept, a sit-down for families to be able to enjoy, friends to be able to connect, and neighbors to be able to come out and enjoy the community,” she said.
The location is minutes from downtown, and deliberately accessible by foot or bike to be more convenient for the community it serves. For Black, it was a natural extension of the roots she’s already put down in the neighborhood.
A community she calls home
Teknovation readers may recognize Black from our 2024 profile of her construction company, Trusted Field Services. Based at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Harrison Street, Trusted Field Services has grown into one of East Tennessee’s most notable cementing companies, earning government contracts with Knoxville Area Transit and winning the City of Knoxville’s 2023 Rising Star Diversity Business Enterprise Award.
Black is a Texas native who relocated to Knoxville during the pandemic and has since made East Knoxville the center of her professional and personal life. First, she opened the doors of Trusted Field Services to hire her neighbors, allowing everyone to gain meaningful employment. Now, she and her business partners are giving those same people a place to gather.
“East Knoxville is a great place to live, work, and play, and so it was a no-brainer for me to reinvest in a place where I call home, where I house my business,” Black said. “Everything is around us. This is the best location. And the people here are so welcoming.”
More than a restaurant
Rosaritas is another chapter in Black’s story about what it looks like to invest with intention in the place you call home.
“Being a woman owning multiple businesses is fun. You get a chance to collaborate with others. You get a chance to turn your ideas into reality,” she said. “It’s so fulfilling, and I enjoy it.”
At the heart of it, she said, is something simple.
“My favorite part of Rosarita’s is how you can break bread with your friends, your family, your loved ones, eat some great food, and enjoy a spirited beverage,” Black said.
Rosarita’s Mexican Cantina is located at 2816 East Magnolia Ave.
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